Special Issue on on Biomanufacturing

Abstract

The creation of innovative medical and welfare machines is indispensable to assuring the health, comfort, safety and security of citizens. In the biomedical area, manufacturing and automation technologies are essential in making these new technologies affordable, and there are many application areas where these technologies can contribute. Such application areas include medical processes, biomedical systems and human-machine interfaces. Papers were collected on these areas to organize this special issue on biomanufacturing. The first paper relates to dental treatment using a laser, the second paper discusses a droplet system using a magnetically-driven microtool and the third paper describes artificial bone manufacturing using 3D inkjet printing. These three papers relate to processes and the subsequent papers are related to systems. These systems-oriented papers include a medical CAD/CAM system for minimally invasive surgery and an irradiation therapy system. In addition, papers related to blood pressure simulation and the technologizing and digitalization of medical skills are included. These are all useful in the design of medical systems. Finally, papers for rehabilitation systems using ER and MR fluids, and a paper on mental stress in manufacturing assembly workers are presented. I would like to express my sincere thanks to all of the authors and reviewers of these papers.